Yolanda Léderer Mohalyi was a painter and designer who worked with woodcuts, mosaics, stained glass and murals as well as more usual materials.
Her early work was figurative, but she increasingly moved towards abstract expressionism. With artists such as Waldemar da Costa and Cicero Dias, she opened the way for abstraction in Latin American art.
Her work appeared in group shows during the 1930s, and her first solo exhibition occurred in 1945.
In 1963, she was awarded the prize for best painter from Brazil at the 7th São Paulo Art Biennial. In 1965, her work was featured in a solo show at the 8th São Paulo Art Biennial. Mohalyi had solo exhibitions in Europe, Japan and the United States as well as Latin America. Her first major retrospective show was held at the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo in 1976.
Since her death on August 23, 1978, her work has been shown in solo exhibitions including those of 1979, 1982, 1984, 2008, 2009, 2014 and 2015.
Her works are included in the permanent collections of the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington D.C.,
the Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo,
the Casa Roberto Marinho in Rio de Janeiro,